Conan - The Equinox Equinox

Episode Seven

On the show this evening, comedian and actor Russel Brand, author Susan Casey and musical guest The 88. Come comes out tonight in a really sharp gray suit, that my favorite suit color to wear as well. Again audience interaction via hugs, he will have to do this forever! Standard monologue so politics some topical news, the usual; good for some laughs. Conan strokes his beard at one point and likes his fingers, then says, “tastes like cinnamon”. Writer Deon Cole comes out so that Conan can thank him for the “black” Conan promo from last night (he also comments on the nice suit). The commercial was a big hit, so Deon has created another one. This time Conan is on in the background during an intense backroom poker game between to large gentleman. The Conan’s Back song plays and one player has trouble keeping his poker-face while watching Conan. Eventually he loses and does a striptease. It was ok, the original was better.

Back from break and Conan has a bit on the Jersey, strongly suggesting that one of his staff members Chris Ultimo is perfect for the Jersey shore. They have a funny exchange where Chris throws out Jersey phrases and poses. Conan says Chris is the real deal as he is from the Jersey Shore and the people on the show actually aren’t, in fact some of them are Burbank professors. This guy does seem authentic and appropriately self-absorbed about his appearance. However, you can tell that he is aware of his own ridiculousness, which would probably make it hard to exploit him on a “reality” show.

Get Him to the Royal Procession

Russel Brand is the marquee guest this evening and we was actually funny. Get Him to the Greek was terrible, taking a 20 minute character and expanding him to nearly 2 hours was painful. When Puff Daddy is your shining comic performance, that’s not a good sign. Brand was good here though, showing his quick-wit and strangeness that make his stand-up so entertaining. Conan was clearly amused, this is the kind of humor he digs. They spoke about royal weddings, class, culture, his recent marriage and their experience in India. Funny interview.

At the risk of sounding redundant about female guests, the next one, Susan Casey was beautiful in a colorful dress. She wrote “The Wave”, which is basically stories and studies about huge waves, surfing, tidal waves, tsunamis and the fabled rogue-waves. They speak of Laird Hamilton surfing 100-foot waves, the largest recorded (usually there aren’t any survivors) rogue-wave caused by an Ice avalanche that was over 1,000 feet tall and the thrill of extreme-surfing as compared to… sex. Conan doesn’t surf, but he lets us know he’s done the deed, three times (he has 3 children I believe?). The book sounds interesting, will have to check it out.

Music guest The 88 close out the show with some 50s-inspired rock. Great performance, sounds like a decent band. Last show of the week is tomorrow. Check out the Chris Ultimo Jersey Shore Audition and help Conan get Chris on the show. Head over to TeamCoCo for more details.